Anna Bligh Day!

Sorry - it took us (Tony!) a little while to scan the article in The Gold Coast Bulletin - but here it is - Tara with Premier Anna Bligh!

SUCH a fantastic day! One that'll be etched in their memories forever...and will inspire them I'm sure. It could not have been better - on all fronts. The school was amazing. The speeches by the Head of School Peter Crawley and the Junior School Captains were amazing. The singing of the national anthem and the school song was amazing. Premier Anna Bligh's speech was amazing. It was all just amazing! So inspiring. I wish I had copies of the speeches. About excellence. About how everyone's special but some people do just display that extra bit of specialness. About making the most of what you have. Striving to be your best. Having a smile on your face and in your heart. And how fantastic exercise is - makes you look and feel good AND gives you the kind of discipline it takes to become a Premier!

We met with the Premier before and after the presentation. She's truly inspirational - eyes that light up and connect, and so totally in the moment. She had such a hectic schedule for the day, but you would never have known it because while she was with us - she was with us. She shared some personal stories with us of friends who've also had amputations or challenging legs; and presented Cassie and Jade with fantastic framed photos of their Gold Coast Marathon Junior Dash finishes. Isn't that sooooo thoughtful of the organisers? All 3 girls had the best time - posing for pictures with the Premier and with Mr Crawley (they could not stop giggling!).

And aaaaaaah - Tara's speech. Wow! She did us all (well, herself) so proud. I wish each of you could've been there. It was just so beautiful. At first they forgot to call Tara up - and I thought "well, maybe it's for the best. Would be awful if she gave a speech now and got tongue-tied." But I knew it would be a waste for her to miss this opportunity to step up & I knew she'd be sad since she'd rehearsed it. So we quickly alerted Mrs Kirby (who was on great form) - and the Premier called Tara up to the microphone. And instead of listening to me go on about Tara - here's what Mr Crawley said about her speech in the school newsletter:

"She stood before the audience of Premier, staff, officials of the Gold Coast Marathon, parents and fellow students and delivered a word perfect, tone perfect and manner perfect speech. She was already in the role as ambassador for the marathon. Positive, encouraging and not a sign of being self-absorbed by the abundant praise she had just received. If she had not been so impressive we would have shed a tear. I would like to think that the explanation for this extraordinary story is that Year 3 clearly prepares the girls well! I suspect this is really a story of family love and support."

Such lovely words. And to be honest - Mrs Donohue (Tara's fab teacher) was actually instrumental in preparing Tara - last week she cleverly asked Tara to thank a guest speaker for coming to visit their school - so it gave Tara a taste of public speaking!

And Michael Denton from Queensland Events sent us a lovely email afterwards, which included these words: "When we saw Tara run over the finish line we knew she was something special. When we saw her speak yesterday and how she handled the whole day, it left no doubt in our minds that she is destined to achieve great things in her life. What an inspiration to all of us she is and what great and genuine support she has from her family and the school."

We're so, so lucky - to have that support - from all of you and from the incredible St Hilda's. Isn't it amazing how high a human can be lifted...when she (or he) has so many supporting hands holding her up. Thank you!

So now Tara is officially the Junior Ambassador of The Gold Coast Marathon - and her next challenge begins - to encourage and inspire as many people as possible to join her at next year's marathon! (Anyone keen for a visit to the Gold Coast next July?) The Premier also set a challenge to Tony to start training to take part next year...and he's set himself an extra goal - to convince Mr Crawley to join him!